


...and most of all, she is my sister

by novictorieswithoutlove



Category: Gallagher Girls Series - Ally Carter
Genre: Gen, Josh Abrams/DeeDee (Gallagher Girls) - (implied), Rachel Morgan/Joe Solomon (mentioned), References events from LYKY through UWS, Yes the title is a direct quote from Liz’s speech it’s a really good speech, Zachary Goode/Cameron Morgan (mentioned)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:33:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23681650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novictorieswithoutlove/pseuds/novictorieswithoutlove
Summary: “The bell above the door jangled in cheerful discordance to the scene taking place within the building.Much like in Cammie’s sophomore year, Dillon and his friends with the letterman jackets had cornered a Gallagher Girl for the heinous crime of attending a private school. Unlike the altercation involving Anna Fetterman, Macey and Bex were nowhere in sight, and Cammie had absolutely nothing to lose by stepping in and ending it.”History repeats itself, with variations.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 39





	...and most of all, she is my sister

**Author's Note:**

> I banged this out on my phone in about an hour at three in the morning, so if there are any glaring tense or spelling errors 1. That is why 2. Please tell me (kindly) in a comment so I can fix it.
> 
> Timeline-wise, this takes place somewhere between Cammie recovering from her injuries and the school burning down. So, sometime in April, approximately.
> 
> Hope y’all enjoy!

The bell above the door jangled in cheerful discordance to the scene taking place within the building.

Much like in Cammie’s sophomore year, Dillon and his friends with the letterman jackets had cornered a Gallagher Girl for the heinous crime of attending a private school. Unlike the altercation involving Anna Fetterman, Macey and Bex were nowhere in sight, and Cammie had absolutely nothing to lose by stepping in and ending it. And step in she did.

“Does anyone care to tell me what’s going on here?” Cammie’s tone was just as nonchalant as Macey’s had been that day in Sophomore year, but even the Roseville students, who had zero training in the covert arts and thought Gallagher taught privileged, spoilt girls and knew nothing of the classified going-on’s that happened within the school’s walls, could hear the ice underlying her question. 

That ice froze them all in place for a moment— town boys, Gallagher Girl, and the pharmacy assistant, who had just emerged from the back room to an unusually tense scene, alike— and then Dillon sneered at Cammie and puffed out his chest. He swaggered forward with the supreme, blind confidence of someone who thought he had the situation totally under his control and said,

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Cammie,” he spat her name like it was a curse.

“You remember my name. Good job. But that’s not what I asked. What I asked was,” Cammie stepped forward, and she repeated her question. “Does anyone care to tell me what’s going on here? Because if I had to guess,” she took another step forward, “I would say that you were harassing poor Hannah while she’s trying to buy...” Cammie trailed off deliberately and looked at Hannah.

“Tampons.” The word was a whisper, but clearly audible in the strong silence that had taken hold of the shop. Cammie stepped forward until she had drawn level with the other girl and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulder.

“Tampons. Now, is that true, or should I guess again?”

“So what if we were, Cammie. What are you gonna do, tell your Daddy?” Dillon sneered. His friends snickered behind him and nudged each other with their elbows to make sure they’d all been paying attention to Dillon’s paltry attempts at wit. 

Cammie froze. The reminder was almost as painful as being shot (and she could say that with authority— she’d had personal experience with that kind of injury). Hannah looked up at her in concern, which reminded her of where she was and what she had interrupted. Her resolve returned, and with it her voice.

“No, I will not tell my father. But I am going to be telling my mother that I walked in on you and three friends cornering and harassing one of our students. And she, as the Headmistress of the school, will be calling Hannah’s parents to discuss today’s events, and whether or not to press charges.”

“Charges-“ Dillon sputtered. The trio of lettermen gawked at Cammie.

“Were you gentlemen— and I use that term lightly— not aware that you can be legally charged for verbal harassment?”

“That’s not— you can’t— you don’t have proof of anything!”

Cammie ignored Dillon for the moment and looked down at the girl sheltering under her arm. “Hannah, you’re in the eighth grade. Have you turned fourteen yet?”

Hannah shook her head no. “Not until summer.”

Cammie turned her attention back to the boys. “And you. You’re all seniors, aren’t you? If you’re not all eighteen yet then you will be soon. Old enough to be charged as adults.” 

“Whoa. Wait a minute!” Dillon was shaking his head slowly back and forth. “We were just—“

“Just what? What possible excuse could you give me as to why you and three other boys were surrounding a thirteen year old girl in the sanitary products aisle when I walked in,” Cammie snapped.

“It‘s her word against ours,” one of the letterman jacket-clad boys ventured. 

“Oh, yes.” Cammie nodded. “Her word against the four of you. Plus myself,” she held her free hand up to chest height and ticked off one finger, then a second. “And Anna Fetterman, who I’m sure you remember from two years ago. Also Rebecca Baxter, who was there that day. Macey McHenry as well.” Cammie ticked off a finger for every name she mentioned. “Now if I’m counting correctly, that’s five people willing to testify that you four have harassed students from the Gallagher Academy. And you know, I bet if we checked with all the students currently at the school, and with the girls who have graduated in the last few years, I’m sure we could scrape up another couple of names.”

Dillon’s face had gone the exact shade of of ketchup. Had Josh Abrams not walked in at that exact moment with his father and DeeDee, Cammie is pretty sure he would have exploded into cursing, if not literally exploded. 

“What’s going on here?” Josh’s voice was cautious.

“Funny. I’ve asked that twice now, but I haven’t gotten an actual answer,” Cammie said, keeping her gaze centered on the short-tempered boy in front of her and taking in the new arrivals with her peripheral vision. “Because when I walked in, it looked an awful lot like four eighteen year old boys were cornering a thirteen year old girl in the sanitary products section. But that can’t possibly be what was going on, could it, Dillon. Because four high school seniors have better things to do than harass little girls, don’t they? So I’m going to ask you one last time: do you want to tell me what’s going on? Or should I assume that my guess was accurate, and have a little chat with the Headmistress about all this.”

Whether it was the threat of legal action hanging over him, or the presence of three people whose opinion of himself he didn’t want to spoil (particularly Mr. Abrams, who could and would have a Talk with the Joneses if Dillon threw a temper tantrum in front of him), Dillon backed down. The three lettermen muttered but followed his lead.

“Nothing. Nothing’s going on.” Dillon kept his voice fairly level, but he shot Cammie and Hannah both a particularly venomous glare to make up for having to act decent toward them. “We’re leaving,” he announced. The four of them slouched out the door.

Cammie looked down at Hannah to see how she was handling this and saw the girl looking up at her with something uncomfortably close to worship in her gaze. Cammie gestured at the shelves next to them to divert Hannah’s attention. 

“Alright, which of these do you usually get?”

Hannah pointed to a box and Cammie grabbed it for her, then steered them both to the counter to check out. Cammie directed the young woman at the register to ring them up, and she seemed quite grateful to be able to return to her usual script. With that done, Cammie turned to Hannah and gave her a quick hug. She pulled back and rested her hands on the girl’s shoulders.

“You’re friends with Josie and Asha, right?”

“Uh huh.” Hannah nodded.

“I’m pretty sure I saw them by the fountain before I came in here, if you want to go join them,” Cammie said. Hannah smiled at her and thanked her before running off to meet her friends.

Cammie watched her until Hannah met up with the other girls, then blew out a breath and turned to deal with the late-coming witnesses to her and Dillon’s little stand-off. Compared to the confrontation weeks earlier involving Dr. Steve, Maxwell Edwards, and the child Queen of Caspia, this would be a lot easier to mop up. But that didn’t mean this was going to be fun.

Cammie spoke to Mr. Abrams first, who was the easiest of the three to handle right now on an emotional level. “Look, I’m not usually one to tell other people what to do, but those four have been harassing girls for years now, and I think you should have a word with their parents. They’re high school seniors, they’re really too old to be acting like that, and if they keep it up they’re going to end up getting charged with assault.”

“But Dillon is—“

“Harmless?” Cammie interrupted Josh’s protest. And so, for the first time in nearly two years, she spoke to Josh Abrams. Cammie looked at him for a moment without saying anything. He’d not gotten any taller, but he had (as Macey had said back in fall semester of junior year) filled out a little. To her relief, Cammie didn’t feel anything looking at him but fondness and a little nostalgia.

“I know you think so. And you know him better than me, so maybe you’re right. Maybe he really never would hurt anyone. But I am going to have to mention this to the Headmistress nevertheless, if Hannah doesn’t report it herself. He could get in a lot of trouble if he doesn’t stop doing things like this. Legal trouble,” she clarified. 

Josh’s eyebrows furrowed but he nodded. His father still hadn’t said a word, but appeared to be torn between saying several different things. DeeDee was looking anxiously between Cammie, Josh, and Mr. Abrams. Cammie smiled at the other girl.

“Hi DeeDee.”

DeeDee’s face cleared of anxiety and she smiled back at Cammie, just as warm and bubbly and resilient (and pink) as Cammie remembered her being. “Hi Cammie.”

“It’s nice to see you again, even if the circumstances are kind of, well.” Cammie rocked a hand in the air to indicate “unpleasant and complicated” and smiled ruefully. DeeDee nodded in agreement and crossed the room to hug Cammie. They chatted for a minute, but Cammie kept an eye on the two Abrams, who both looked troubled.

“Legal trouble?” Mr. Abrams spoke up at last.

Cammie nodded. “You can be charged with harassment even if there wasn’t any sort of physical contact. Especially with multiple eye witnesses, and with him being eighteen and her a minor. And...” Cammie chewed on her lip briefly as she decided how to phrase the situation to a man who only knew the students of the Gallagher Academy by their cover, and the accused as his son’s best friend. “I saw them through the window as I was passing, and whatever it was that they were actually doing, it did look pretty bad. Bad enough that I felt like I had to step in. Literally.” Cammie gestured around the store. 

“I’m actually running pretty late for a meet-up,” she confessed. “But I couldn’t just pass by that without saying anything, and then I couldn’t see any of you and not at least say hello,” Cammie finished. She smiled at the three of them, not glad of the reason she was in the same room as them again, but strangely glad to have seen them nonetheless. (Especially if the end result of today’s little stand-off got the town boys a little better under control.)

At first, the only one smiling back was DeeDee. Then a smile slid over Josh’s face, a genuine smile, just as smooth as she remembered it. And with that, Cammie knew that they were finally okay, the two of them. 

Mr. Abrams didn’t quite manage a smile, but as Cammie said her goodbyes and turned to leave he looked thoughtful and concerned. Cammie would definitely take that reaction over the disdain or anger she had half expected to see from him, now that he knew (or though he knew) who Cammie really was.

This time, the jangling of the bell over the door was in harmony with her mood and Cammie walked down the sidewalk with a spring in her step. She had friends and a boyfriend to meet for lunch, her mother’s wedding to help plan, and real closure with the chapter of her life that had snowballed into the events of the last two years.

Life wasn’t perfect, but it was good, and Cammie finally felt ready to face her future.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a love letter to the aspect of canon that I most enjoy, which is that even Gallagher Girls who have never spoken to each other before are all (with the notable exception of Catherine) 100% ready to throw down on each other’s behalf the second they find out one of their sisters is in distress.
> 
> Kudos are manna, and comments (even, and perhaps especially, comments consisting only of keysmashes and/or punctuation marks) are very much welcomed!


End file.
